Sunday, September 28, 2008

Books and DVD's about the war in Iraq

Gladiator at Law by Fredrick Pohl. Its highly prophetic opening chapter describes the war in which the last country in the world, Uttar Pradesh if I remember correctly, agrees to accept U.S. advertising.

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein details U.S. foreign policy from its undermining of democracy in the Congo to Hurrican Katrina and Iraq.

Nemesis by Chalmers Johnson describes the effect on other countries of the U.S. policy of establishing airbases and golf-courses in every nation in the world.

A Solitary War by Heraldo Munoz describes the pressures the US put on other UN nations to get them to join its war in Iraq.

The Fall of the House of Bush by Craig Unger details the lies the Bush administration told the US public (and General Powell) to get them to endorse the war in Iraq.

The film, Control Room, shows how the U.S, military retaliated against the Al-Jazeera network for putting pictures of dead civilians and g.i's on the air. "It gives the wrong picture of the war," one general said.

Which reminds me: Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Good news for CEO wives

The recent 700 billion dollar bailout of the banking industry means your husband will get his golden parachute and you can keep your head up amid your Cayman neighbors.

Welcome to Zimbabwe

US plans to print 700 billion in additional currency in bank bailout. The resulting depreciation in the already depreciated US dollar will necessitate a rise in food prices and inflation at a record rate. In the worst case, senior can switch to dog food and those already eating dog food can die thus easing the burden on social security and Medicare which McCain plans to cut anyway.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Book Review: A Garden of Vipers

When I first read the description on its book jacket, "plunged into a world where truth is weakness, deception is admired, and death is just another cost of doing business," I thought, oh boy, another book about the Bush administration. But while the villians in this detective novel are spoiled rich psychotics, they live in Mobile Ala and generally only kill one person at a time. This is the Jack Kerley's third novel in the series and is every bit as exciting as its predecessors. Still, I kind of miss the political infighting which characterized The Hundredth Man, his first.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

military takeover in 2011

It doesn't really matter who wins the election, the Manchurian Candidate or the Pretty Boy. Both seem reluctant to express the awful truth: real unemployment (counting workers who no longer are looking for jobs) is running well above 15%. Once, the military and the contractors return from Afghanistan and Iraq, unemployment will exceed 30%. Look for a military takeover in 2011.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Bush's Contributions to the World Economy

There has much been so many negative comments about Bush's destruction of the US economy, that we thought it time to set the record straight. Under Bush's leadership:

o The economy's of China and Vietnam have known unprecedented growth.

o Though profits plummeted and thousands of minority youths were thrown out of work after the Taliban destroyed Afghanistan's poppy fields, prompt action on Bush's part restored heroin production, profits are up for Bush's campaign contributors, and urban youth can again make a living selling crack and smack on street corners and school yards.

o Realizing that cutting taxes for the rich would not be successful unless there were huge profits for the rich to avoid taxes on, Bush sent hundreds of thousands of troops to Iraq. Not only have contractors profited there in the absence of oversight, but the oil companies have profited in three different ways:
  1. The demand for oil has doubled due to the need to transport troops and equipment. This had led both to higher sales and higher profits per sale.
  2. Taxpayer-paid service men and contractors have replaced oil company personnel in guarding oil fields and pipe lines.
  3. To get US troops to leave, the Iraqii government has been forced to sign long-term contracts with the oil companies at ruinously low prices, thus ensuring that all profits on Iraqii oil will go to the oil companies.

o Deposits in Switzerland, the Cayman islands and other safe havens for excess profits have doubled.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Don't Blame the Manchurian Candidate

Those who would throw brickbats at McCain for dumping his wife and the mother of his children after getting out of prison, then marrying some rich bitch who would further his political career, should remember that after five of indoctrination at Communist hands he was merely doing what he'd been programmed to do. It's the Communists' next post-hypnotic suggestion, we ought worry about.

(Maybe Bush really was in the Air National Guard and got shot down over VietNam. How else to explain both Vietnam and China experiencing such never-before-seen prosperity as they have under Bush's leadership?)

Saturday, July 12, 2008

McCain and Keating fooled you once

Remember Lincoln Savings? When McCain and Keating fooled you the first time, it was shame on them. If you let them fool you again, then shame on you.

It's all about the oil, stupid

http://www.truthout.org:80/article/time-iraq-war-oil-profits-taxes

http://www.truthout.org/article/time-iraq-war-oil-profits-taxes-part-ii

Sunday, June 22, 2008

McCain the Manchurian Candidate

Those who've seen either version of the film, The Manchurian Candidate, or who've read the book, know that it concerns a G.I. taken prisoner in the Korean War who is brainwashed by the Chinese. Does the same plot apply to an airman taken prisoner in the Vietnamese War who is brainwashed by the Chinese? Those familiar with McCain's platform know that the answer is "yes." His desire to perpetuate the disasterous policies of the Bush-Cheney government which have left hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work or on the military dole can only further push America into a major depression leaving us vulnerable to a takeover by Beijing.

Even the American military are divided, some top officers believing that the threat posed by the Chinese can only result in still larger budgets and others who believe that things may already have gone too far and we can only lose such an encounter. Do the 35% of the U.S. population who remain Bush loyalists really want to serve as slaves when the Chinese arrive? Or do they picture themselves serving as overseers in a slave economy?

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Why The Media Demands A Single Candidate

"Clinton should step down," read the headlines. "She should step down," repeat the columnists, the talk show hosts and TV's talking heads.

But why? At least three answers underlie this latest dictate of the Media's bosses, an oligarchy of a few very rich men. Their reasons are not generally publicized, but a trip to the 13th floor and an insertion into the mind of one of the privileged few revealed all.

"Stop Edwards: Too often when the Democrats are divided, they've settled on a compromise candidate. Senator Edwards is no compromise. He's little more than a communist, an #$% robin hood, and he'll cost this country a fortune. (O.K., so all #$% politicians cost taxpayers a fortune; this latest #$% has left the U.S. bankrupt; but at least he left my off-shore accounts alone.)

" Trim costs: Having to send out two teams of reporters and cameramen is costing us a fortune. (Note to self for future reference: We could save even more if there were only a single party. We could cut back on our political donations, too.)

"Admittedly, we'll lose some money in the short run, since the audience for the Democratic convention will drop off to nothing. (Come to think of it, we don't actually get paid for showcasing those conventions, it's just another of those worthless public services we do to show our hearts are in the right place. Could we drop them from our schedule entirely?) But in the long run, once the public starts to ignore the conventions, we can get back to electing a candidate the way it ought to be done, in a room full of cigar smoke and good old boys."

Phillip Good, formerly known as #6 of the Berkeley Barb, is the author of Common Errors in Statistics (and How to Avoid Them).

Monday, April 21, 2008

Civil War in Ecuador?

Now that the President of Ecuador has ejected a US airbase, we can count on the CIA doing another Kenya or another Congo, depending on whether they sponsor a civil war or an assassination.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Boycott Beijing Sponsors

Please Boycott the sponsors of Beijing Olympic games.

Send our athletes, but fans stay home.
Don't travel to China.
Avoid purchasing Chinese-made goods.
Don't purchase Samsung, Coca-Cola, Lenovo, or GE products.

How Republican appointees spend your money

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040908O.shtml

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Want a Job? Benefits? Join the Military

Under Bush, the nation has launched the largest program of welfare for the otherwise unemployable. (And by not enforcing the laws against illegal immigrants, Bush has assured that few citizens will have any other choice than to enlist.)

Read

The Volunteer Army: Who Fights and Why?


http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21201

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Why Kenya?

Kenya suffered in the previous century under British tyranny, why is the U.S. now involved? Demonstrating its dissatisfaction with President Mwai Kibaki's administration, the U.S. backed Kenya's political opposition, and, when they failed to win the election, supplied the arms that underlie today's atrocities. But why? Kenya has no oil and poses no economic threat to the United States. But readers of Chalmer Johnson's Nemesis will understand that the US wants an air base there (here, there and everywhere). Kibaki (sensibly) refused to allow the camel's nose in his country's tent. He wants to play hardball does he? So we give him hardball. I don't like us.

Monday, March 17, 2008

The Wages of Peace


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708O.shtml
Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier write for The Nation: "The economic consequences of Iraq run even deeper than the squandered opportunities for vital public investments. Spending on Iraq is also a job killer. Every $1 billion spent on a combination of education, healthcare, energy conservation and infrastructure investments creates between 50 and 100 percent more jobs than the same money going to Iraq. Taking the 2007 Iraq budget of $138 billion, this means that upward of 1 million jobs were lost because the Bush Administration chose the Iraq sinkhole over public investment."

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

And For Vice-President, the nominee is ...

Bush's selection of Cheney as is his vice-president was a stroke of genius as it made Bush assassination proof. We use this same criteria in advising Obama to select Edwards as his vice-president with Janet Napolitano, the Governor of Arizona, as a possible alternative, while for Clinton, the choice of Obama as her VP is obvious.